Would you like the WOL to have a villian arc (mSQ spoilers)

[sindriiisgaming]

(for the sake of cannon i will refer to WOL as a male)

i was brain storming in my own time, and i was thinking that rn our wol is pretty stagnant as a character. he doesn't do much in dt anymore. he was basically turned into wuk lamats rottweiler.

in the msq we learn that azem is going to have some extra impostance going forward since the key is his (please refer to side stories on the LODESTONE) and it has got me in a way that i feel like WOL is just turned into a mantle piece, but in SHB and EW WOL/meteor was a character too.(he was also a character in arr-stb too but lets be honest most of that was heavily suppressed) he had a story, he had feelings and emotions and he had a personality (tho it wasn't shown well) I get that writing for a character owned by a player isnt easy, you have to be careful not to remove the feeling of control from the player. In some ways this is sad, because it holds him as a character back from expressing himself.

so i wonder going forward maybe a villian arc for the WOL? what if it was not a full blown villain arc, but instead tieng into the final threat of msq. maybe accidentally helping them, like on the 1st when we helped emet without realizing it by becoming a sin eater. I was thinking, for his character development it might actually be good for him? hes definitely not a figure without tragedy, but at the same time. hes got things a bit easy now being a godslaying 7/14s rejoined ascian megabeing. not to mention hes azems legacy which is yet more power points for him.

perhaps, if we couldn't weaken the WOL organically. maybe we could balance him by making him do (willingly or unwillingly) something bad. creating a conflict between him and the other scions, and putting his power in check again. I would personally enjoy a trail of you (the wol) vs all of the scions as they try to stop you from whatever it is your tryna do. could be a good battle with interesting dialogue and mechanics. and besides,. your easily enough for 7 people. but maybe not these 7? this could also be a good way to make the scions feel useful again. ill never forget how weak i felt in dt when i was confronted by the endsinger, knowing full well i was absolutely no match for her all alone.

and then after this smaller arc concluded the wol would have some internal crisis where he has to regain his inner strength. remember shb also did this. and it was some of the best writing in the game. how about a little more of this?

anyway these are just ideas. would you like this too? would you like more development of the WOL, or is he fine as he is?

[Jeeqbit]

I mean yes, I thought a villain arc would be cool for the WoL.

I thought we were getting it with Shadowbringers. We were becoming the "Warrior of Darkness", after all.

But, you know how that ended up so...

[sindriiisgaming]

I mean yes, I thought a villain arc would be cool for the WoL.

I thought we were getting it with Shadowbringers. We were becoming the "Warrior of Darkness", after all.

But, you know how that ended up so...

wouldnt really have made sense to be a villain in shb tho XD

[ovIm]

wouldnt really have made sense to be a villain in shb tho XD

Would it not be? Imagine this, if you will.
Vauthry is a truly benevolent leader, and one that has created a paradise akin to the Inn at Journeys Head. People live in comfort and luxury, hoping for some last good days before the true end.
In comes our protagonist, the new Warrior of Darkness. To save the world, he has to bring strife to this paradise, to shatter the comfort. We had something similar just now, by disabling the terminals in the unlost world. The WoD would end up destroying the pillars of the comfortable life of the people of Eulmore, making Vauthry truly desperate, to get them to stand up and rise against them, and in turn, fill the world with chaos, saving it.
Would that not have been awesome?

[Talamh]

snip

I got a better idea.
Use the Crystal Tower to go to an alternate dimension of the Source where the Warrior of Light was a villain all along.
It can only be a 1v1 battle and in the end, both the player and that Wol dies.

Then they can find themselves in the Aetherial Sea and be reborn a 100 years later to a proper family ( Instead of just Mommy Crystal who took a bunch of shards of your souls and coalesced you into a being and put you on a ship to a random town ) and the game can re-start off on a fresh note, except you'd still have your levels and all... So this wouldn't work.. But the first idea works. I guess the Crystal Tower could revive the player or something and they'd be changed by the experience.

Aside from that, I really don't wanna go through an misunderstood arc or villain arc unless it's in service of restoring balance and I get to kill the Scions and others in order to become a true monster, because the alternative would result in a Flood of Light of the source if we don't. Which you can read about in the reply to Jeegit here :3

I thought we were getting it with Shadowbringers. We were becoming the "Warrior of Darkness", after all.

I honestly thought Shadowbringers was going to revel in the fact that Warrior of Light's power balance had tipped the scales too far to the Light side causing a Flood of Light to happen.
Thus they'd have to embrace the dark crystal Zodiark in order to balance out the two forces and fight back the Light. Keep the world in balance as it's always been the case with Final Fantasy.

Take it as canon or not, but in the novelization of Final Fantasy ( 1 ), the Heroes of Light when they go to confront Chaos SPOILERas they travel 2000 years into the past are nearly blinded with how strong the Light is. The Four fiends are almost terrified at why the Warriors of Light are here, accusing them of wanting to destroy the world since this is a time when the Light reigns supreme. An abundance of it.SPOILER// I really thought it'd be something intelligent like that. My disappointment of Shadowbringers, was so immense, I started writing my own ttrpg setting in brief strokes of how I'd done FFXIV if I had been in charge of it.

XIV plays fast & loose with the concept of balance and everytime it comes up in an ingame-lore discussion between the characters, it's always bs ;;

I really hated Shadowbringers as an expansion. You can't just "call" yourself a Warrior of Darkness, and the Warrior of Light isn't a glorified vacuum cleaner. XIV pisses me off everytime I start thinking to deeply about the lore because it's just so stupid... BUT... Shadowbringers has my favorite areas in the game, and Seat of Sacrifice is my favorite fight of them all, and I have To The Edge on my phone even because I adore that song so much.

[hynaku]

They should make the story so has a path at the end where pick if want to follow the dark side or the side of light. I really want to be an anti-hero.

[Ramiee]

If it allows Thief to be added to the game then yes

[Rithy255]

If it was optional I would like it, I'll never see this as realistic otherwise though.

Sadly I don't think options with what your warrior of light does will ever be a thing.. as far as the story is concerned we're just a predetermined NPC who will always follow the same route. I think this leaves little room for a morally grey character because by default we're meant to be the "hero" and I don't think anything will change that.

[Bonoki]

The Warrior of Light indirectly gave Venat the idea for the Sundering, making us, by extension, an accomplice in that decision. If you think about it, every tragedy and calamity that followed can be traced back to that moment. In a way, we are already the villain of this story.

[Enkidoh]

The Warrior of Light indirectly gave Venat the idea for the Sundering, making us, by extension, an accomplice in that decision. If you think about it, every tragedy and calamity that followed can be traced back to that moment. In a way, we are already the villain of this story.

Oh not that nonsense again... ugggh. *rolls eyes*

And to the OP: this game will never feature an 'evil'/darkside storyline for your character, because this is Final Fantasy, FF games always features a protagonist ultimately trying to save their world from forces that would threaten or destroy it. You're simply never going to see the WoL depicted in the story and lore as anything but an altruistic saviour and protector of the Source and it's Shards.

If you want your character to be self-centred sociopathic edgelord antihero #9632 then this is not the game for you, as FFXIV will never be that - there's plenty of other games that appeal to that mindset.